upgrading alternator

I think this is were custom battery terminals come in to play...

I always leave factory wiring there.

Well obviously custom battery terminals are needed!!

But my + already has the main 4g wire, the 4g wire running to my amps, an 8g going to the fusebox thats next to the battery, and another 8g which im not sure where it goes to!!

and now i need to add a 0/1g wire for the upgraded alternator!!

i could only find a terminal with 1- 0/1g output, 1- 4g output, and 2- 8g outputs!!!

my question was do i need the factory wiring connected if im upgrading the wiring to 0/1g wire or can i leave the factory wiring disconnected??

the installation guide says.... "When doing this, do not remove any factory wiring, just add your larger, upgraded wires to it."     that sounds like the factory and the upgraded wiring should be hooked to the new alternator!!! but upgrading would mean out with the old and in with the new right??

Alpine Guy wrote:

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Keep the factory wire hooked up, as well as adding your 1/0 awg. What I did was buy a GM style dual post model battery, I put all the factory wiring on the side posts, and the alternator power in and amp power out on the top post, as well as your upgraded 1/0 awg ground from the alt to the battery and the body to your battery.

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So u are saying that i should have a 1/0 awg going from the alternator ground to the battery ground and then a 1/0 awg from the battery ground to the frame of vehicle??

the installation guide says to run a 1/0 awg from the alternator to the frame of vehicle and then a 1/0 awg from the battery ground to the same location as alternator ground!! doesnt say anything about running a wire from the alternator ground to the battery ground!!!   i am not sure if it really even matters but i definately dont wanna end up with problems or anything!!!

Read this from beginning to end. ALL your questions will be answered more than once;

https://www.the12volt.com/installbay/forum_posts.asp~TID~73496~PN~1

mustang_pumpin wrote:

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Alpine Guy wrote:

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Keep the factory wire hooked up, as well as adding your 1/0 awg. What I did was buy a GM style dual post model battery, I put all the factory wiring on the side posts, and the alternator power in and amp power out on the top post, as well as your upgraded 1/0 awg ground from the alt to the battery and the body to your battery.

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So u are saying that i should have a 1/0 awg going from the alternator ground to the battery ground and then a 1/0 awg from the battery ground to the frame of vehicle??

the installation guide says to run a 1/0 awg from the alternator to the frame of vehicle and then a 1/0 awg from the battery ground to the same location as alternator ground!! doesnt say anything about running a wire from the alternator ground to the battery ground!!!   i am not sure if it really even matters but i definately dont wanna end up with problems or anything!!!

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yeah i would have to agree that grounding the alt directly to the battery ground would be best, but i wasnt sure since the alt installation guide didnt say to connect it that way... but it makes sense to ground directly to the battery to have a solid path like u said!!

i think i pretty much got it all figured out and i connected all the factory wiring to the upgraded alt and just added the 0/1 awg

thanks for the tips and info and all... greatly appreciated!!!!

Alpine Guy wrote:

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mustang_pumpin wrote:

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Alpine Guy wrote:

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Keep the factory wire hooked up, as well as adding your 1/0 awg. What I did was buy a GM style dual post model battery, I put all the factory wiring on the side posts, and the alternator power in and amp power out on the top post, as well as your upgraded 1/0 awg ground from the alt to the battery and the body to your battery.

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So u are saying that i should have a 1/0 awg going from the alternator ground to the battery ground and then a 1/0 awg from the battery ground to the frame of vehicle??

the installation guide says to run a 1/0 awg from the alternator to the frame of vehicle and then a 1/0 awg from the battery ground to the same location as alternator ground!! doesnt say anything about running a wire from the alternator ground to the battery ground!!!   i am not sure if it really even matters but i definately dont wanna end up with problems or anything!!!

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Both ways will work fine, they are the same path electrically, I just like my way better because the alternator has a straight ground shot to the battery instead of having to ground through some rusty panels.

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i kinda was thinkin a lil about why my new alternator install guide says to run a 0/1 awg wire from the ground on the alternator to the FRAME of the vehicle and not to the battery - post.....  well the whole reason im upgrading to a bigger alternator is so that it can handle the power that my amplifiers will be needing. and if ya think about it, the best and proper place to connect the ground of an amp is to the frame closest to the amps. so connecting the ground of the alternator directly to the frame also would make a stronger path between the 2 with less resistance!!

so basically connecting the alternator ground directly to the frame and also connecting the amps ground to the frame in a way would be kinda like running a wire from the alternator to the amplifier ground!!!

anyways does what i just explained make sense and make for good reasoning why the install guide said connect ground directly to the frame???

Run the ground from the alt to the frame. Run the ground from the battery to the framenear the alt-frame ground.

OR

Run the ground from the alt to the battery. Another from the battery to the frame.

Would it be a good idea or make any difference really if i was to run a 0/1 awg wire from the battery ground (or location battery is grounded to frame) back to the rear to a distibution block then to each amp??

would that make a stronger better connection or would it be pointless and a waste of wire??